"I can let go only if we do the mate ceremony."
The words cut through Liam's haze more effectively than cold water.
He went still beneath Arik.
For several seconds, his body continued reacting independently, muscles tightening around the knot, breath catching whenever another pulse of ether moved through the bond, but his mind had returned with brutal clarity.
The ceremony.
The final stone.
Their ether combining without barriers.
And something of Felix was still inside him.
"No."
Arik's entire body loosened at the answer.
Not relief exactly. His rut fought the decision too fiercely for that, pheromones still pouring from him in suffocating waves while the sovereign ether beneath his skin burned bright gold.
But his control returned.
"Yes."
Liam turned his face against the mattress, breathing hard. "Absolutely not."
